Scottish Executive

Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many project licences were granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003 in respect of work to be carried out in Scotland.

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many places in Scotland are designated as scientific procedure establishments under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many places in Scotland are designated as breeding establishments under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many places in Scotland are designated as supplying establishments under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

Mark Ballard (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many regulated procedures were carried out under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has no function in relation to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This is the responsibility of the Home Office.

Civil Servants

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its civil servants are employed on energy policy.

Mr Jim Wallace: While most aspects of energy policy are reserved, there are, within my department, currently twenty four people dealing with energy matters, mainly relating to the promotion of renewables, consents under sections 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989, and energy efficiency.

Climate Change

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland is, expressed also as a percentage of such emissions in the United Kingdom, and what information it has on the average level of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe and internationally.

Ross Finnie: Carbon dioxide emissions data for Scotland and the UK are available in the publication Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1999-2001 , a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 32027) and is also available on the Executive’s climate change web-site at www.scotland.gov.uk/climatechange .

  Both the European Environment Agency and the United Nations publish data on European and international carbon dioxide emissions which can be accessed at www.eea.eu.int/ and http://unfccc.int/.

  Care must be taken when comparing countries emissions levels, which are not always reported on a like-for-like basis. For example, in the case of carbon dioxide, the "National Total" on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Greenhouse Gas Inventory database does not include emissions from biomass burning or emissions or removals from the land use change and forestry sector. By contrast, the UK inventory does include such emissions and removals.

Environment

Mr Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how many strategic environmental assessments have been carried out since the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Scotland) Regulations 2004 came into force and what effect these have had on decision-making.

Ross Finnie: To date no Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) have been carried out since The Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes (Scotland) Regulations came into force on 20 July 2004.

  It is not possible at this early stage to quantify what effect the SEA Regulations have already had on the decision-making processes within responsible authorities.

Fuel Poverty

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are currently living in fuel poverty, broken down by tenure.

Johann Lamont: The latest data comes from the Scottish House Condition Survey 2002. At that time 286,000 households lived in fuel poverty. Of these, 177,000 are in the owner-occupier sector, 65,000 from the local authority sector, 10,000¹ in the housing association sector and 34,000 in the private rented sector.

  ¹indicates an unweighted sample of 30 to 100

Fuel Poverty

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are currently living in fuel poverty, broken down by household income.

Johann Lamont: The latest data available is the Scottish House Condition Survey 2002. At that time 286,000 households lived in fuel poverty, broken down by household income as shown in the table:

  

Weekly income £
Numbers of households in fuel poverty


<100
86,000


100-199.99
159,000


200-299.99
29,000


300-399.99
8,000¹


400-499.99
*


500-699.99
*


700+
*



  * indicates an unweighted sample of less than 30

  ¹ indicates an unweighted sample of 30 to 100.

Fuel Poverty

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are fuel poor, broken down by household type.

Johann Lamont: The latest data available is the Scottish House Condition Survey 2002. At that time 286,000 households lived in fuel poverty, broken down by household type as shown in the table:

  

Household type
Numbers of households in fuel poverty


Single adult (I adult of non-pensionable age and no children) 
46,000


Small adult (2 adults of non-pensionable age and no children)
24,000


Single parent ( 1 adult of any age and 1 or more children)
9,000¹


Small family (2 adults and 1 or 2 children)
9,000¹


Large family (2 adults and 3 or more children, or 3 or more adults and 1 or more children)
9,000¹


Large adult (3 or more adults and no children)
20,000


Older smaller(2 adults of pensionable age and no children)
63,000


Single pensioner(1 adult of pensionable age and no children)
105,000



  ¹ indicates an unweighted sample of 30 to 100

Justice

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, investigations into deaths which require further investigation, are concluded and the next-of-kin advised within 12 weeks.

Colin Boyd, QC: In the last quarter for which completed statistics are available (April, May and June 2004), of the 1,639 death investigations concluded in cases reported to the Procurator Fiscal which required further investigation, a total of 1,328 (81%) were concluded within 12 weeks as against a target of 60%. Instructions to Procurators Fiscal require that relatives are informed of the outcome at the conclusion of the investigation.

Licensing

Donald Gorrie (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any changes to liquor licensing laws will be accompanied by increased funding (a) raised from fees or (b) allocated by the Executive to local authorities to enable them to administer and enforce new laws.

Tavish Scott: We stated in our white paper issued in May that our preference, in line with policy in other areas of licensing, is for full cost recovery through the licensing fee. We intend to conduct a fee review in due course as part of our progress towards the new system.

Livestock

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of pig farms are in compliance with paragraph 16 of Schedule 6 to the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003, which requires pigs to have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material such as straw, hay, wood, sawdust, mushroom compost, peat or a mixture of these to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities.

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of pig farms are in compliance with paragraph 21 of Schedule 6 to the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003 which only allows tail-docking to be carried out after other measures to improve environmental conditions or management systems have been taken to prevent tail-biting.

Ross Finnie: It is not possible to state what proportion of pig farms comply with the requirements of the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003 as we do not have information on every pig farm. However, the State Veterinary Service (SVS) and local authority animal health and welfare officers undertake visits to pig and other livestock farms on a routine basis to monitor compliance with EU welfare requirements. Other targeted visits are conducted following any complaints.

  We have no central records for local authority visits. During 2004, the SVS have recorded 60 visits to pig breeding establishments and 50 visits to growing establishments to date. Only a small proportion of these visits revealed non-compliance with the provision of manipulable material and breaches relating to tail docking. In cases where there is non-compliance with the legislation, but no immediate pain or distress, the SVS initially takes an advisory approach. In only one case did this not rectify the problem and a statutory notice was served by SVS to resolve the matter.

Local Government

Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated by local authorities to community councils in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Tavish Scott: This information is not held centrally. Decisions relating to the funding provided to Community Councils are made locally by individual local authorities and we do not collect this information.

Renewable Energy

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that local people and communities can benefit from ownership of the means to produce renewable energy.

Mr Jim Wallace: We strongly support the principle of local communities benefiting from ownership of renewable energy developments. Highlands and Islands Enterprise is pioneering a scheme that will enable communities within its area to own or share in renewables developments. We are monitoring this closely and will consider whether it might be possible to extend the principle to other areas of Scotland.

Renewable Energy

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how its education and skills policy will contribute towards growing the renewables economy.

Mr Jim Wallace: We believe that it is important that the renewable energy industry’s immediate and future skills needs are identified and plans put in place to deliver these needs. The Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS) has therefore established a sub-group to look at this issue, it will report in the spring of next year. In taking forward its remit, the sub-group will work with the appropriate sector skills councils and take account of existing education and skills policies.

Water Supply

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that the water supply for the communities at Ardgour and Clovullin has been contaminated with cryptosporidium since the end of August 2004 and that there has been no potable supply of water since that date; what steps Scottish Water has taken, and is taking, to address the situation; how it will now provide a clean water supply; why Scottish Water did not supply bottled water immediately after the discovery of cryptosporidium; who was responsible for taking the decision not to supply bottled water, and whether such a decision was taken to save costs.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive is aware that the Consultant in Public Health Medicine (CPHM) for Highland NHS Board has required Scottish Water to issue advice to its customers in Ardgour to boil their drinking water because of high levels of Cryptosporidium in the supply. Boiling the water makes it safe to drink but Scottish Water is also supplying bottled water to customers in the area with special needs. Customers with special needs are identified by the local authority and the NHS Board.

  Scottish Water has plans in its current investment programme to improve the Ardgour supply but these are not scheduled to be complete until 2005. The plans involve a sub-sea pipeline under Loch Linnhe and although Scottish Water is looking at how these plans can be accelerated, this may not be possible due to technical difficulties.

  Scottish Water continues to liaise with the CPHM regarding the Boil Water Notice which will stay in place until the level of Cryptosporidium in the supply falls to an acceptable level.